Monday, August 02, 2010

Last week, everyone was talking about fried pickles. Sure, fried pickles are good but why all the sudden interest? Well, apparently a popular TV show about New Jersey beaches (or something like that) had some of its characters eating this Southern delicacy for the very first time.

“Eating fried pickles was a life-changing experience,” said “Jersey Shore” cast member Snooki upon her introduction to said pickles.

Life changing? That’s quite a statement. Now, I enjoy a basket of fried pickles alongside a bowl of buttermilk dressing as much as the next person. But are they a revelation? Let’s take a closer look.

In Texas, we are known for deep frying anything edible. Butter, Coke, bacon, ribs, turkey, lattes, cookie dough, peanut butter sandwiches—all have been dipped in batter and hot oil in the name of making delectable food. Heck, after you’ve had a serving of fried bacon, a fried pickle might even seem rather mundane.
But, fortunately, they’re not.

If you’ve never had fried pickles, you’re in for a treat. I tend to find fried food a bit heavy, yet fried pickles are a tangy, crisp treat made just a tad more decadent with the crunchy breading. The acidity of the pickle stands up well to the breading and frying unlike some foods such as vegetables, which I feel often lose their flavor and snap once they’ve been fried.

Making fried pickles is easy, as long as you’re comfortable with some popping grease and sticky hands. I’d have to say that the most difficult decision is whether to fry pickle spears or chips—one of the most hotly contested issues in the world of pickle frying. Me? I’m a pickle-chip gal myself since they take less time to fry, are less likely to get mushy and—most importantly—they’re easier to pop in your mouth.

There’s also the question of breading. While I usually prefer a cornmeal dredge for fried vegetables, I find that it doesn’t work so well with dill pickles, so I go with a saltine cracker dredge instead. Of course, these are all my preferences and you may have your own as well. But the best thing about fried pickles is that you don’t have to limit yourself to just cucumber dills, even though they are the classic. Nope, you can fry up pickled okra, pickled jalapeños or any other pickle that you love. As long as they’re tangy and crisp, they’ll be wonderful.

Method:
In a large plastic food-storage bag, mix together the flour, salt and black pepper. Place the pickle chips in the bag and shake until they are well coated.

Mix together the eggs with the buttermilk. Place the crushed saltines on a plate and mix in the cayenne and dill weed. In batches, dip the flour-coated pickles into the eggs and then lightly dredge in the saltines. Place cracker-coated pickles on a large plate or sheet. Repeat until all the pickles are coated.

In a large, heavy skillet heat 1/2 inch of oil on medium heat until it reaches 350 degrees. Cook the pickles for one minute or until golden brown, turning once. Depending on the size of your skillet will probably have to do in several batches. Drain on paper towels.

Snooki also said washing clothes in the sink made her feel like "a Pilgrim from the 20s", but I agree with her about the fried pickles. Had them in FLA earlier this year for first time and TOTALLY dug 'em. Will be printing this out for when I need such an indulgent delicacy.

Fried pickles are one of the many things I miss about living in the south. One summer my friends and I ate them every single Sunday at lunch. Yummy, and a great hangover cure before hitting the Frio to tube!

I go to Razoos just for the fried pickles. (And the margaritas, before I was pregnant or nursing... ahh, margarita!) I much prefer the chips to spears, though. It must have the correct ratio of breading to pickle! Fried green beans are also an unexpectedly tasty treat.

Yum! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I never heard of fried pickles until I moved to the south. They are deliciously life-changing. Lol! I tried making the spears once, but they turned out too soggy. I will try your recipe. Thanks again!

have i mentioned that you're my favorite person today? i have loved fried pickles since i had them at a bar in NC years ago. i finally found a place (last week, strangely enough) serving them in Chicago, and they're not bad! will definitely give these a try :)

Thanks for the post, and yeah, dang near every bar in Dallas has fried pickles on their menu, always served with Ranch dressing for dipping.I have to say that my favorite fried item here in Dallas seems to have gone by the wayside since there are no more Fletcher's Corn Dog stands. They had an item called Texas Torpedoes which were simply whole jalapeño peppers dipped in corn dog batter and deep fried. I can't even describe how Texas good this was.

YUM! I LOVE fried pickles, and it disturbs (dare I say depresses?) me that most of the places I've found that have them in NYC fry SWEET pickles. SO disappointing when you order them and expect that wonderful combination of fried and tangy that you get from fried dills.

oooooohhhh I LOVE fried pickles! I don't know why I never thought about fried pickled okra, that might even be better! I usually use a cornmeal batter for mine, but I will definitely try this one out next time.

Grew up in OK. First FPs, too many years ago, were at the Hot Diggety in Jenks. My son is getting married in Dallas in less than two weeks. My only request for the rehearsal dinner - fried pickles and fried okra. The caterer was all too eager to comply. Fancied up a bit, they'll be served in parchment cones with ranch dressing. I can taste them now.

I worked at a restaurant in college where we coated pickle chips with tempura batter and deep-fried them. They were AWESOME. Granted, these were not on the menu, but if you knew someone on staff we could hook you up ...

I'll bet these would be Super Great with Tobasco Brand Sweet 'n Hot Pickle Slices! Yum Maybe when I take a break from Weight Weight Watchers- I've lost 50# so far this year but still love reading your recipes. Paul

Best fried pickles I have ever had are from Pat's Place in New Braunfels (where I live) I am with you, the pickles need to be the chips, not the spears. Centerpoint Station in San Marcos does the spears and it just doesn't work. One bite and all the breading falls off. fried pickle chips you can pop in your mouth. So yummy!

Just as an addendum to my mention of Fletcher's Texas Torpedoes. The jalapeños are of the pickled variety, not fresh. AND, whatever brand Fletcher's used, they always had a firmness to them, never soggy. And I also remember them never squirting any brine on me. I don't know if they made incisions to drain them first or if the deep frying took care of some of that liquid.Director, and NJ native, Kevin Smith brought up an interesting point during a Dallas radio interview. Only one cast member of Jersey Shore is from NJ! The rest are New Yorkers!

I just had the urge to make fried pickles, which I have never done, and I thought to myself, where might be a good and trusted virtual spot to search for a fried pickle recipe?

Immediately I thought of your blog, though I have only visited about twice ever. I wasn't sure if fried pickles were a Texan thing, per se, since I know of them through Memphis, but I thought your site would be a good place to start, and lo and behold: top of the flippin' page.

Oh how I love deep friend pickles! I'm actually living in Central Texas and have a few restaurants where fried pickles are always a must have :) but I never thought of making them myself! Thanks for the recipe :)

My 11 year old daughter just mentioned about wanting to deep fry pickles (we have an annual fry fest which involve lumpia, hot dogs, twinkies, oreos etc. and NO! she doesn't watch Jersey Shore... or is she sneaking it???) and so I'm so pleased to stumble upon your blog via David Lebovitz' post (about Hill Country). I will most definitely give it a go.

Love this blog - I'm rec'ing it to my best friend who JUST moved (as in yesterday) to NYC to start grad school. I'm more nervous for her than she is! Hopefully this blog should fulfill any food cravings she'll get. :)

I love fried pickles, I first had them about 20 years ago at a local restaurant. The owner of the restaurant soaked his dill pickle chips in beer before breading them. Unfortunately that restaurant closed years ago, but I always remember Mr. Kelley's tip on making fried pickle chips.

Never had fried pickles but they sound good! Wait - can you please tell me more about how you deep fry COKE? Now I am curious! What is that all about!? Thanks!jkrs01 @comcast.nethttp://ayearwithmomanddad.blogspot.com

I have just stumbled on your blog and you're already saved on my favourites - not least because of this. I have seen recipes for fried pickled in US recipe books I have, and in films, but have never made them. 5 of my friends and I do a pot luck once every two months and we have an American themed one coming up - I really hope I have appetizers - I so want an opportunity to make these! As a Brit - can I recommend Jacob's Crackers as an alternative to saltines - they seem to be the closest thing and I've always had success when I've substituted them in recipes.

Thank you for posting this. I had fried pickles for the first time last year at a BBQ restaurant, and I kept saying I wanted to try making them at home. I never got around to it until you posted this recipe and they turned out great. Especially with the buttermilk dressing as you recommended!

Lisa, I L-O-V-E your blog! We just did a 3 year stint in Texas while my husband was stationed at Ft. Hood, and I loved Texas, and especially the food. :-) I hail from all over the place growing up, but my parents are from Missouri.

In Missouri we have a mixed cuisine of our own, some of which can be southern, but a lot of which is just typical mid-west. There are some good Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants in, but we really enjoyed the food in Texas. One time our neighbor made us Chicken fried Steak with cream gravy and it was so good! I tried Kielbasa with sauerkraut, puffy tacos in San Antonio, GREAT barbeque in several places. Another neighbor made some killer spicy chili with jalapenos. We loved it all.

Your blog is wonderful! We are stationed in Germany now, and miss the food so badly. There is some awesome German food, of course, but no good Tex-Mex. There is one restaurant who tries, but IMO it's "Germanized" Tex-Mex (e.g. they put curry on their chicken fajitas).

So, after that long intro I had a question/suggestion. I love fried okra, and fried green tomatoes, and fried pickles, and I just read your pickled green tomatoes recipe and wondered, have you ever tried frying your pickled green tomatoes? That's like mixing fried green tomatoes and fried pickles. I don't know... but it could be awesome! On that note, could you whip up some recipes for fried okra, and fried (un-pickled) green tomatoes? Pretty please?

Also, (I know this is getting long, but I have been lurking awhile, so things started building up). Have you ever been to Salado? It's off I-35 between Temple and Roundrock (or if you need bigger cities for reference, between Waco and Austin. They have an awesome restaurant there called The Stagecoach Inn, which we really enjoyed going to. Have you ever been there? It is sooo Texas. :-) They make some fingerling hushpuppies and serve them with chicken broth (in little espresso cups) as a starter and they are SOOO yummy. I wondered if there was any way you could tackle that recipe. I've been able to find it in two places, but for some reason my attempts have failed at producing hushpuppies like their's.

Thank you for your wonderful blog. I love your Grandma's Chocolate Pie recipe, and your Migas and Mexican rice recipes, and there are many others, but those stand out the most right now. :-)

I just posted a super-long response, and I guess it was TOO long, b/c it wouldn't post it, it gave me an error. So, abbreviated, we just lived in Texas for 3 years and really really miss it. I think we are going to move back there when hubby gets out of the Army. I miss the food terribly and your blog is such a blessing to me! I love reading it, seeing your photograpy and trying the delicious recipes, that taste just like I remember.

We are in Germany right now and I consider myself a homesick Texan transplant. Tex-Mex food here tries, but is too "Germanized". There is of course some awesome German food (we live in Bavaria, home of Schnitzel, pretzels and Bier ;-) ), but I miss me some good Texas home cooking and esp. the Tex-Mex!

Just read your fried pickles, and pickled green tomatoes recipes and wondered: Have you tried frying your pickled green tomatoes? I don't know for sure, but that could be AWESOME! Also, would you be willing to do recipes for fried okra and fried green tomatoes?

Lastly, have you ever been to Salado? Off I-35 about 50 mins north of Austin? It is a neat town. Have you been to The Stagecoach Inn? If not, next time you are in TX you REALLY should try to go. Take your mom! You two would love Salado and the restaurant at The Stagecoach Inn. They serve fingerling hushpuppies with chicken broth as a starter that are SOOO good. And the rest of their food is old-fashioned down home Texas cooking as well. They use one of the past owner's original recipes!

I have just come back to the Austin area after living in Phoenix for a while. I was craving fried pickles so badly last night that I spent a couple of hours calling around to see who served them and then had hubby meet me on his way home from work for a "pickle date"!! The pickles were not very good but helped with the craving. Then as I started searching again online today, I came upon your posting. I had never had success making them before because the batter was never quite right. When I read your recipe I knew it would be great! I rushed out to HEB, bought my ingredients and made a double batch for my household. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! It was "life-changing" :-) and I will never have to depend on restaurants again for my cravings! You are a true angel in the bluebonnets!

I spent many years living outside the US and I feel for all of the posters who miss Tex-mex and Dr Pepper! Best wishes to you all!

I also tend to agree with you with regard to chips vs spears BUT . .the very best fried pickles I've ever had are at Grumpy's Mexican Cafe in the outskirts of NE San Antonio. They do the spears and they are so perfectly fried and perfectly battered they will make you weep with joy.

I love fried pickles! Thank you so much for this recipe! I've been wanting to make them for a while, but I haven't bothered to look up a recipe, but when I saw this recipe on your index I just had to make it. It's delicious!

I just made these tonight after my daughter begging me to for the last 2 yrs. after having them at Texas Roadhouse. We live overseas, so we can't just go out for these. They were delicious and a big hit- thanks!

It sounds funny to me that people have not heard of fried pickles... but I'm Texan, born and raised... and I stop and remind myself that I didn't know Lobster Bisque was a soup... I always thought it was some kind of breaded lobster roll or "biscuit"... Being a seafood lover, it sounded tasty! My family likes fried pickles chip style. "Spears get soggy" they say. I never thought of using saltines! Thanks! Sakura

I made these but I was having trouble coating the whole pickle chips with flour for the edges wouldn't coat! Any advice because mine came out as a bit of a mess haha. Maybe I should dip it in egg/buttermilk first before coating in flour?

Can't wait to try these! My favorite-favorite-favorite hometown bar (in Maine) made them with whole baby dills, and I've never been able to find anything except the chips anywhere else. They'll definitely be worth the muss-and-fuss of deep frying if I can recreate them at home.

Lol I'm born and raised Texan, and it amused me to learn that there are places that don't know what fried pickles are. I don't mean that in an ugly narrow-minded way, I simply thought they were typical fare... I mean, everyone has pickles! Lol it really made me realize I need to get out more. On another note, yes we are picky about how they are made. This recipe looks fantastic. Perfect breading-to-pickle ratio. I'm going to give it a try and see what the pickleheads in my house think! :)

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